UAE | Heritage and Culture

Basket of dates fetches Dh40,000 at auction

A basket of dates fetched Dh40,000 at an auction during the Fourth Liwa Festival in Mazirah in the Western Region.

  • By Eman Mohammed, Abu Dhabi Deputy Editor
  • Published: 21:16 July 23, 2008
  • Gulf News

  • Around 120 types of dates are planted in the UAE
  • Image Credit: Abdul Rahman/Gulf News
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Mazirah: A basket of dates fetched Dh40,000 at an auction during the Fourth Liwa Festival in Mazirah in the Western Region.

The basket filled with six kilos of Khalas dates was bought by a watering company, the cash raised will go to charity work.

Click here to see the 'Liwa Festival' in pictures

Every night 60 baskets of various kinds of dates are displayed in the auction.

Click here to see the different types of dates produced in the UAE (pdf)

Rakan Maktoum Al Qubaisi, chairman of the organising committee, told Gulf News the festival has become like Eid for farmers who wait for the event every year to celebrate the date season and take a rest.

The festival, held under the patronage of General Shaikh Mohammad Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Force, will last until August 2.

Preparations are also under way to organise a group wedding tomorrow, held for the first time in the Western Region. The celebration will include traditional music and dance.

Also preparations are in progress to organise the world's largest date dish on the closing night of the festival. The size of the dish is 12 metres long and 2.5 metres wide, it will be filled with all kinds of dates produced in the area and is set to be registered in The Guinness Book of World Records.

Mohammad Khalifa Al Qubaisi, member of the organising committee, said: “Throughout the years the festival has helped farmers to qualify their products as all companies related to the industry are taking part in the exhibition.''

Around 180 date-producing families are taking part in the exhibition “they sell their traditional handicraft products and some creative products related to palm trees,'' he said.

More than a 100 types

Around 120 types of dates are planted in the UAE, a Ministry of Environment and Water official said.

“Through studies and research carried out we found 120 types of dates to be known in the UAE,'' said Mansour Ebrahim Mansour, Head of the Date Palm Development Section in the ministry.

Speaking from the ministry stand in the exhibition he said many people considered the khalas dates to the best kind of date.

It was originally from Saudi Arabia and now grows successfully in all GCC countries.

People like it because it is a high quality fruit and not too sweet, he said.

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